The present invention relates to a film cassette for use in an endoscope camera. An endoscope camera comprises, for example, a film supply portion and a film take-up portion with a bridge interposed therebetween. A film take-up spool is rotatably mounted at the film take-up portion of the film cassette, and engagement pawls formed integrally with the spool are exposed to the upper surface of the film cassette. A cover is mounted at the rear side of a camera main body of the endoscope camera so as to be free to open or close. The cover is opened/closed to mount the film cassette in a cassette chamber of the camera main body.
In this case, the film cassette is mounted in the cassette chamber by sliding along the optical axis from the rear side of the camera main body. In order to prevent interference between a film take-up shaft of the camera and the film cassette, the film take-up shaft is vertically movable. When the film cassette is mounted, the film take-up shaft is moved upward. After the film cassette is mounted, the film take-up shaft is lowered to engage with the engagement pawls of the film cassette.
However, when the film take-up shaft is made vertically movable, the height of the camera main body must be increased to accommodate the stroke of the film take-up shaft. Furthermore, the overall mechanism becomes complex. After photography, the film cassette must be removed from the camera, resulting in cumbersome operation.